Flexible hybrid electronic sensing system for UAV applications

1. An aircraft system comprising:

a conformal antenna array comprising:

a flexible substrate configured to conform to a curvature of a portion of an aircraft,

a plurality of antenna elements coupled to a first surface of the flexible substrate, wherein the plurality of antennas are formed in an array, and

radio front-end hardware configured to communicate signals to and from the plurality of antenna elements;

a radar processing system coupled to the radio front-end hardware; and

a renewable energy source configured to power the radar processing system and the radio front-end hardware.

2. The aircraft system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna elements are configured to transmit and receive signals in a K band.

3. The aircraft system of claim 1 , wherein:

the flexible substrate has a thickness of 20 mils or less; and

the conformal antenna array further comprises a corporate feed beamforming network coupled between at least a subset of the plurality of antenna elements and the radio front-end hardware, wherein at least a portion of the corporate feed beamforming network is located on a center plane of the flexible substrate.

4. The aircraft system of claim 1 , wherein the radio front-end hardware is coupled to a second surface of the flexible substrate.

5. The aircraft system of claim 4 , wherein the radio front-end hardware coupled to the substrate has a thickness of 60 mils or less.

6. The aircraft system of claim 1 , wherein the renewable energy source comprises solar panels.

7. The aircraft system of claim 1 , wherein a power requirement of the radar processing system and the radio front-end hardware is less than the power supplied by the renewable energy source.

8. A method of operating a radio system comprising:

providing power to a radar processing system and a radio front-end hardware from a renewable power source;

creating a low-frequency signal for transmission by the radar processing system and communicating the low-frequency signal to the radio front-end hardware;

upconverting the low-frequency signal to a radar signal by the radio front-end hardware, wherein the radio front-end hardware is located on a backside of a flexible substrate;

coupling the radar signal to a corporate feed beamforming network; and

radiating the radar signal by an antenna array coupled to the corporate feed beamforming network, wherein the antenna array is located on a front side of the flexible substrate.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein upconverting the low-frequency signal comprises upconverting to a radar signal having a K band frequency.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein:

the flexible substrate is mounted to conform to a curved surface of an aircraft; and

the corporate feed beamforming network is configured to flex along with the flexible substrate.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the flexible substrate has a thickness of 20 mils or less; and

further comprising routing radar signals from the radio front-end hardware to at least a subset of a plurality of antennas of the antenna array by the corporate feed beamforming network, wherein at least a portion of the corporate feed beamforming network is located on a center plane of the flexible substrate.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the radio front-end hardware coupled to the substrate has a thickness of 60 mils or less.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the renewable power source comprises solar panels.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein a power requirement of the radar processing system and the radio front-end hardware is less than the power supplied by the renewable power source.

15. A radiating structure comprising:

a flexible substrate having a top surface, a bottom surface, and a plane located between the top surface and the bottom surface, wherein the plane is substantially parallel to at least one of the top surface and the bottom surface;

an antenna array comprising a plurality of antenna elements in a two-dimensional array, wherein the antennas are coupled to the top surface of the flexible substrate;

radio front-end hardware configured to communicably couple to a radar processor, wherein:

the radio front-end hardware is located on the bottom surface of the flexible substrate, and

the radio front-end hardware is configured to upconvert signals from the radar processor and output a radar signal; and

a corporate feed beamforming network coupled between at least a subset of the plurality of antenna elements and the radio front-end hardware, wherein the corporate feed beamforming network is configured to feed the radar signal from the radio front-end hardware to the at least a subset of the plurality of antenna elements.

16. The radiating structure of claim 15 , wherein at least a portion of the corporate feed beamforming network is located on the plane.

17. The radiating structure of claim 15 , wherein the radio front-end hardware is further configured to:

downconvert radar reflection signals received by the at least a subset of the plurality of antenna elements; and

communicate the downconverted signals to the radar processor.

18. The radiating structure of claim 15 , wherein the flexible substrate has a thickness of 20 mils or less.

19. The radiating structure of claim 15 , wherein the flexible substrate is configured to conform to a curvature of a portion of an aircraft.

20. The radiating structure of claim 19 , wherein the corporate feed beamforming network is configured to apply a taper profile to the antenna array based on the curvature of the portion of the aircraft.